Posts

Onteora Rocks…

It’s been a busier time than ever in the month since I handed in my Smiths book, much of it taken up by my other life, as Vice President of the School Board at the Onteora Central School District. I tend not to use the platform of my iJamming! blog to talk extensively about what goes on in this role, especially the day-to-day issues that affect our own School District, mainly because I don’t think that’s what people come to this site for, but if you want to get a sense of what’s been going on around here, in a school district that traverses almost 300 square miles and includes parts of six different towns, you can read a couple of the articles that report on what is, for now, the conclusion of a difficult process: the reconfiguration of our District at an elementary level. Our local newspapers, thankfully, are essentially fair in their reporting, so follow this link to read about the outcome in the Woodstock Times, and this one in the (Kingston) Daily Freeman, the latter of which appears to have a five-minute video of me reading my own statement to the public upon the vote. You can also read a letter I wrote to local magazine Chronogram about public (for my British readers, that means what it means: public) vs. private schools in our area.

The day of the Board meeting to finalize reconfiguration, February 28, the teachers and kids at the Phoenicia Elementary School made a video to announce and promote its adult team’s entry into the annual District Dodgeball Tournament, held Friday March 2nd. Watching this video, seeing the happiness in the faces of the kids and the teachers and all the other staff too, admiring the creativity at work here as well as the sense of play, I am reminded of why I put in so much time to this volunteer role. Please take time to watch this. It’s pure joy. And here’s to the whole Onteora District moving onwards – and upwards.

Navigation

Copyright Tony Fletcher 2000-2012. Other than short excerpts under standards of fair use for purpose of review or reference, content may not be copied and republished without written permission of author.